Clouds!

Again, making up for lost time in the last 2 years of not blogging, I thought I'd mention that I've been taking pictures of clouds for the past couple of years.  I love texture, and here in Michigan especially in the winter, we get a lot of WEATHER and we have a lot of clouds and a lot of rippley textured clouds. 

I told my friend, Bethany, about my cloud photographing and she let me borrow her Cloud Collector's Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney filled with every kind of cloud possible and its classificiation.  She even gave me a membership in the Cloud Appreciation Society (www.cloudappreciationsociety.org) for Christmas.  Pretor-Pinney is member #1, of course, and I'm member 32,134.  Maybe someday I'll get to go to a cloud convention!

My plan is to print them onto either plastic or sheer fabric.  I already did it by making a color copy (at Kinkos or Staples) on acrylic transparencies (used for overhead projectors) and cut them into strips and then rewove them.  It was a start.

It's been a long time! Dolls & textiles the past 2 years

Scroll #1: Flowers

It is amazing but true.  It's been almost 2 years since my last post!  I think life must have just gotten too complicated and, since I still have dial-up, loading pictures and "talking" probably seemed to take too long.  

Anyway, my friends (both guild ---from the Lakeshore Fiber Arts Guild) and my art friends and friends in general have nagged me to get back to it.  So, I thought over the course of the next week I'm going to do posts that bring you, and me, up to date on what I've been doing the past 2 years.  There has been a lot and I'm proud of what I've accomplished and look forward to telling you about it.

By the way, because I can't yet figure out how to edit the banner up above so I can put my website address in it, check it out at www.JenniferGouldDesigns.com, especially the Home page which has my shows, exhibits and talks coming up, and Art Dolls section illustrates all the different types of pieces I do.

If you're in the West Michigan area and you're interested in our fiber arts guild, go to our blog at http://lakeshorefiberartsguild.blogspot.com.  This group and its loyal members have been an important part of my life for the last 34 years.  I can't believe it's been that long but our guild celebrated last night with cake, pictures and memorabilia on the wall, and the speaker last night, Margaret Jager ("Small Looms") who will become the next Michigan League of Handweavers president in August at the biennial conference.  MLH has been an important influence on my artistic life for almost as long.  Through exhibits, workshops, and encouragement from fellow textile artists, I have learned so much and look forward to seeing a lot of friends I only see once a year at conference in August (at Hope College, Holland MI---my alma mater, by the way).  Check out their website and the upcoming conference workshops/seminars at www.MLHguild.org.

The piece above is one I  just finished as a challenge for the Surface Design Association (SDA) mini-group here in Michigan (another really great group at www.surfacedesign.org).  We were each sent a piece of yellow dyed fabric from Susie Krage in Detroit and had to use at least half of it somehow in a piece.  This is the first non-sculptural, flat piece I've done in years.  More on it in another post and details.  Hope you'll be listening!

"Close at Hand" show at Terryberry Gallery, St. Cecelia Music Center

"Close at Hand" - A Contemporary Approach to 

Traditional Textiles and Folk Art

Jennifer Gould:  Embroidered Monoprints 

  and Art Dolls
Ann Willey:  Rug Hookings and Acrylic Paintings

Opening Reception:  May 6, 5:30pm-8pm

Show:  May 6- June 30

Terryberry Gallery
Lower Level
St. Cecelia Music Center
24 Ransom, NE
Grand Rapids MI 49503

Open: Monday- Friday 9am-5pm
Call 616-459-2224 for weekend or evening hours

annwilley.com and JenniferGouldDesigns.com

PLEASE visit Ann's website at AnnWilley.com to see her delightful and enchanting paintings and small rug hooked pieces.  She and I have had two annual shows together at YT Galleria (966 Cherry, Grand Rapids) in November/December for the last 2 years.  Our work goes so well together.  This is the first time I've exhibited my hand printed/painted and embroidered pieces.  This is also the first time that her textile work and my dolls/embroideries have been exhibited together so this should be a wonderful show.  

Square Headed Women with Attitude

Ms. Tutti Fruiti

 I've been experimenting with a variety of  techniques to create a more 3-D appearance on my pieces and celebrate spring.

Ms. Tutti Fruiti was an exploration of lengths of yarn sandwiched between water-soluble stabilizer and then stitched.  Jazzy Woman has hand printed fabric I did last summer and red embroidery I did this winter; and just to make her more musical, she has red jingle bells on her head.  These pieces, plus 8 more are for Synchronicity Gallery in Glen Arbor, Michigan which opens on May 7 this year for the summer and autumn season.

Jazzy Woman

Now I'm working on embroideries and dolls for the Terryberry Gallery (lower level of St. Cecelia Music Center, downtown Grand Rapids) which opens on May 6.  I'm sharing the show with Ann Willey (www.annwilley.com).  She and I have had a 2-person show at YT Galleria in Nov/Dec for the last two years, but this show will include her rug hooked pieces.  We're very excited!

Boisali Biswas' Perpetual Garden in Winter

You may remember Boisali's Perpetual Garden that I posted in October, 2010.  She recently sent me images of her Perpetual Garden in Winter.  Quite an inspiration to gardeners, but especially to those of us living in the North where snow and cold still rein supreme.  I know Spring is coming because the birds are twittering as though they're choosing mates.

Check out Boisali's gorgeous textile pieces on:  
http://ebiswas.zenfolio.com/p396889493

Mother and Child III

I've just finished this piece for which I am very proud.  She's the third in the series of a woman holding a baby who's in a cockle shell.  This one was done for the "Celebration" show, an annual juried show at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Grand Rapids. (The dress was white cotton knit shibori dyed in brown/black.)  I won SECOND PRIZE (tied with Ron Head for his bronze sculpture of "Mercy", a pieta)--very gratifying.


My life has been in a little upheaval lately (a friend of mine died and I adopted her two cats--trying to get them to acclimate to my house and my cat Sweetie Pie with all the hissing, growling, screaming; and my car/van is out of commission and needs a rebuilt transmission...) so this textile figure really gave me a lot of peace and a feeling of accomplishment, as well as gratitude for all the things I have.  

Mother and Child III

Pisces Woman 17

Way back last year on June 1, my very first posting to this blog was an image of my Pisces Woman 17 that I had just finished for a show with the Artists Alliance show at Twisted Fish in Elk Rapids (Michigan).  Well, she's in the news again and I am really proud that she will be in the "Figuratively Fiber" show at the Textile Center, Minneapolis, from March 11-April 16 and also made got on the cover of their Winter/Spring catalog newsletter.